#maritime history

[clove-pinks]

It's wild to reflect on the fact that SS Arthur M. Anderson, the last ship to be in contact with the Edmund Fitzgerald on the night of November 10, 1975—whose captain received the message "we are holding our own" from the Fitzgerald—is still around on the Lakes, just doing her normal things as a freighter.

Here she is departing Muskegon, Michigan, last weekend!

[lucybellwood]

NEW STICKERS JUST DROPPED

Have at ’em

[the-golden-vanity]

I think the thing I like most about The Sea, as, like... a setting or a concept, is that in its vastness, its untameable nature, its unknown secrets, you have a lot of historically documented events that sound more like tales out of mythology and folklore.

Take, for instance, the fate of the Victory Expedition of 1829.

The Victory expedition was a private polar expedition led by veteran British explorer Captain John Ross. Twenty-three men set sail for the Canadian Arctic on the steamship Victory, but when the ship became trapped in the polar ice, there was no way to free it. The crew spent four years in the frozen north, surviving on rations from the wreck of a previous polar exploration ship.

Eventually, twenty survivors packed their belongings into small boats and hauled them over ice towards open water. And in that open water, there was a ship, the whaler Isabella of Hull.*

The Isabella's crew couldn't believe their eyes, because, as they told the Victory's survivors, "Captain Ross has been dead these two years."

And if that wasn't strange enough, the (very much alive) Captain Ross of the Victory had, on a previous Arctic expedition, been captain of the Isabella.

*Side note: the more I read about the Age of Sail, the more I realize that wherever official Explorers™ from a given Western nation go, their whalers have already beaten them there. Sometimes that's even the reason the explorers were sent.

[even-in-arcadia]

wake up babe new scan of the Endurance dropped - and the detail is astonishing.

From the article linked above:

Perhaps most extraordinary of all is a flare gun that’s referenced in the journals the crew kept. The flare gun was fired by Frank Hurley, the expedition's photographer, as the ship that had been the crew’s home was lost to the ice. “Hurley gets this flare gun, and he fires the flare gun into the air with a massive detonator as a tribute to the ship,” explains Dr John Shears who led the expedition that found Endurance. "And then in the diary, he talks about putting it down on the deck. And there we are. We come back over 100 years later, and there's that flare gun, incredible.”

[jamesfitzjamesdotcom]

Congrats old chap

[Microfilm Caird Library/original private collection]

[english-history-trip]

In the words of Lara Maiklem:

436 years after they sailed up the Channel, the Spanish Armada (one of them at least) finally arrived in London yesterday.

The Galeón Andalucía, a full size replica of a 17th century Spanish warship, will be docked at St Katherine Docks near Tower Bridge from September 24 to October 6 and you can visit while she’s there.

[eleanorcrane]

welcome to the boat zone, a.k.a. early phases of a piece i’m calling H.M.S. Terror On Warmer Waters

[its-rmstitanic]

A watercolour study in Procreate of 'Into the Night' by E. D. Walker for the 112ᵗʰ anniversary; time-lapses available here and here 💙

[mycupofstars]

You know you’re in for a good doomed polar voyage when it opens with a map that looks like a fucking etch a sketch

[seagulls-paradise]

At the Maritime Museum in Lisbon, Portugal, the majestic Royal Bergantine, commissioned to be built in 1780 by Queen D is on display. Mary I. This vessel stands out for its opulent gold artwork adorning its entire hull, with a refinement particularly evident on the stern. After being moved to the Naval Museum in 1963, the galleon has been meticulously restored, retaining its original splendor. The Lisbon Maritime Museum is one of the most prominent in Europe and reflects Portugal rich naval tradition, which for centuries has been a nation closely linked to the sea.

Credits: Conocimientum

[tristanaef]

Franklin Expedition Service Records

I have finished transcribing the service records I used for my Franklin Careers project. You can find all the transcriptions on my Franklin Expedition page:

ADM 196/4/181. “Capt Sir John Franklin.”

ADM 196/4/220. “Com Jas. Fitzjames.”

ADM 196/4/373. “Lieut. Graham Gore.”

ADM 196/5/124. “Lieut. Edward Little.”

ADM 196/8/548. “John Smart Peddie.”

ADM 196/8/579. “Stephen Samuel Stanley.”

ADM 196/68/548. “Chas H. Osmer.”

Note that some of these are only officer service records. The midshipman service records are elsewhere.

These service records are all property of The National Archives, Kew, and were obtained from the digital service collection Royal Navy officers’ service records 1756-1931. Transcriptions published under the Open Government Licence (OGL) per The National Archives image reproduction guidelines.

[clove-pinks]

Coward from 1889 can't handle a butch lady ship in the Age of Steam.

[the-golden-vanity]

You're gonna need a bigger boat bookshelf.

[saranilssonbooks]

19th century ships surgeon's apothecary chest.

[jamesfitzjamesdotcom]

Fitzjames' Midshipman journal

The original and my reproduction/full transcription. Another thing to try and get published one day. Just a journal full of tourism, operas, and nautical stuff in the Mediterranean (1833-34).

[Caird Library, National Maritime Museum Greenwich.]

[excessivebookshelf]

North Carolina Maritime Museum Library